After you have ethics approval

Find out more about amending or extending your approved application and how to respond if something goes wrong.

Amending or extending your application

Ethics approval is for three years.

To make changes to your research project after approval or extend your dates, you will need to apply for an amendment or extension to your existing application. This process takes between five and ten working days.

Amendments are made in Hōkai. You will be asked to explain the proposed changes, update the relevant details in your application form and upload any amended or additional documents.

Amendments and extensions are checked by the Research Office ethics team and approved at the Convenor’s discretion. The Convenor might seek a second opinion from another committee member or ask for a new application if the changes are substantial.

Adverse incidents

Everyone wants research projects to proceed smoothly and safely but sometimes things go wrong. Adverse incidents are instances of potential or actual physical harm to participants or researchers, emotional harm or distress to participants or researchers, and any other unforeseen events that raise ethical issues including data breaches.

If an adverse incident occurs during your project, after dealing with the initial situation in a way that minimises harm to participants and the researcher, you should immediately notify the ethics team at human-ethics@vuw.ac.nz.

Complaints

Your information sheet will include contact details allowing participants to contact the Convenor if they have a complaint. The Human Ethics Committee (HEC) has a formal complaints process.

However, you might find that the complainant wants to provide feedback to you directly. If the participant does not want to lodge a formal complaint with the HEC, we would still value their feedback as all comments can help us learn. Get in touch and let us know at human-ethics@vuw.ac.nz.